Untitled Lost River #1, from the Suburbia Mexicana Project

Photography; Inkjet Print, 2008

"Through the 1960s and 80s many photographers portrayed and centered their work on industrial and suburban sites; the man altered landscape. It is now, 30 years later, that the inevitable action-reaction to those human acts they pictured would start to show up. Lost Rivers is a representation of nature's non-beneficiaries of our actual urban well-being. In the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León, some rivers and streams have dried out or are in the process of drying after Monterrey's metropolitan area erupted its urban growth and its demand for water. These dried up streams and rivers are one of many unintended consequences of wrongly implemented economical strategies. Relying less on irony and more on a romantic representation of decay, Lost Rivers is a social comment on contemporary Mexican unplanned urban development."

Alejandro Cartagena

b. 1977, Dominican Republic / Mexico

Short Bio

Alejandro lives and works in Monterrey, Mexico. He is an artist, teacher, lecturer, writer and promoter of photography. His projects are primarily documentary based, exploring landscape as well as portraiture as a way to examine social, urban and environmental issues of Latin America. His work has been exhibited and published internationally and is in several public and private collections in Mexico, USA, Brazil and Italy. He is recipient of several major national grants, numerous honorable mentions and acquisition prizes in Mexico and abroad. He is currently seeking his masters in visual arts as he continues his photographic projects about the Mexican landscape.

Website

www.alejandrocartagena.com

Contact

halecar@alejandrocartagena.com

Education

• MA in Visual Arts, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo León, Mexico 2009-present
• BA, Universidad Mexicana del Noreste, Mexico 1995-1999
• Workshops by Paul Graham, Enrique Méndez de Hoyos, Gerardo Montiel Klint, Yolanda Andrade, Aristeo Jiménez, Mariana Gruener, Carmen Lozano, Carlos Aranda Márquez, Armando Cristeto, Gustavo Prado

Collections

SINAFO/ Fototeca Nacional del Inah, Pachuca Hidalgo, Mexico

Fototeca del Centro de las Artes, Monterrey, Mexico

Instituto de Cultura de Yucatán, Mexico

Fondo de la Casa de la Cultura de Nuevo León, CONARTE, Monterrey, Mexico

Universidad de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico

Solo Exhibitions

Suburbia Mexicana, Bluesky Gallery, Portland OR, USA (2010)

Suburbia Mexicana, Michigan State University, Michigan, USA (2010)

Suburbia Mexicana, Monterrey International Airport, Monterrey, Mexico (2010)

Suburbia Mexicana, curated by Daylight, Lishui Foto Festival, Lishui, China (2009)

Suburbia Mexicana, Galeria de la Ciudad, La Depravación de lo Habitual, Aguascalientes, Mexico (2009)

Suburbia Mexicana, Centro arte paiz, Foto 30 Photo Festival, La Depravación de lo Habitual, Guatemala City (2009)

Ciudad, Casa Escorza, Guadalajara, Mexico (2008)

Identidad Nuevo León, Museo Regional de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, Mexico (2008)

Identidad Nuevo León, Centro Cultural Gómez Morín, Querétaro, Mexico (2007)

Identidad Nuevo León, Museo de Arte San Pedro, Puebla, Mexico (2007)

Ciudad, curated by Domingo Valdivieso, Galería Leopoldo Carpinteyro del IMNRC, Monterrey, Mexico (2007)

Espacios Habitables, Sala Hermenegildo Bustos de la Universidad de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico (2007)

Identidad Nuevo León, Centro de las Artes de Guanajuato, Salamanca, Mexico (2006)

Identidad Nuevo León, Museo de Arte de Zapópan El MAZ, Jalisco, Mexico (2006)

Identidad Nuevo León, curated by Carlos Aranda Márquez, Fototeca del Centro de las Artes, Monterrey, Mexico (2006)

Identidad Nuevo León, curated by Carlos Aranda Márquez, Galerías Monterrey Mall, Monterrey, Mexico (2006)

Espacios Habitables, curated by Marcela Torres, Casa de la Cultura de Nuevo León, Monterrey, Mexico (2006)

Fotografía y Texto, Galería Regia, Monterrey, Mexico (2005)

Fragmentos de la Isla, Palacio Municipal de San Nicolás, San Nicolás, Mexico (2005)

Recent Group Exhibitions

Hey Hot Shot 2009, 2nd Edition, Jen Bekman Gallery, NY, USA (2010)

New Directions, Wall Space Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA (2010)

New Directions, 23 Sandy Gallery, Portland, OR, USA (2010)

International Discoveries II, Fotofest, Houston, TX, USA (2009)

Feria Internacional de Libros de Artista, Biblioteca de Mexico Fotoseptiembre 2009, Mexico (2009)

The Center for Fine Art Photography, International Exhibition, Fort Collins, CO, USA (2009)

100 Fotógrafos Contemporaneos Mexicanos, Fototeca Nacional, Pachuca, Mexico (2009)

Creación en Movimiento 2007-2008 Fonca Grantees, Centro de las Artes de San Luis Potosí (ENCUENTRO FOTOGRAFICO MEXICO SLP), San Luis Potosí, Mexico (2009)

Reseña 2009, Casa de la Cultura de Nuevo León, Salón de Fotografía, Monterrey, Mexico (2009)

Fototeca de Zacatecas, Luz de Plata, Mexico (2009)

DYSTOPIA, Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA (2009)

Selected Awards and Recognitions

Artwork International INC., Art Business Career Development Grant, Santa Fe, NM, USA (2010)

Hey Hot Shot 2009, Jen Bekman Gallery, NYC, USA (2009)

Critical Mass Photo Book Award, finalist, Photolucida, Portland, OR, USA (2009)

Aperture Portfolio Prize, finalist (2009)

Critical Mass Top 50 Portfolios, Photolucida, Portland, OR, USA (2009)

International Discoveries II, Fotofest, Houston, TX, USA (2009)

International Artist Book Fair, Fotoseptiembre, honorable mention, Mexico (2009)

International Photography Awards 2nd and 3rd place in Architecture, Cityscapes and Interiors, Los Angeles, CA, USA (2009)

En Foco, People Place Thing Competition, honorable mention, NY, USA (2009)

Luz de Plata Photography Prize, finalist, Mexico (2009)

14th Annual Project Competition finalist, CENTER, Santa Fe, NM (2009)

International Photography Awards, honorable mentions Nature, Landscape and Waterscapes categories, and the Fine Art / Landscape categories (2008)

Photolucida Critical Mass International Participant Award, Portland, OR, USA (2008)

Project Competition, honorable mention, CENTER, Santa Fe, NM, USA. Jurors Charlotte Cotton, Chris Pichler, Susan Scandrett (2008)

PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris, Honorable Mention, France (2008)

Critical Mass Top 50 Portfolios, Photolucida, Portland, OR, USA (2007)

Photographic Center North West 2nd Place Award, Juried competition, Juror: Maria Sanchez, Seattle, WA, USA (2007)

FONCA-CONACULTA 2007-2008 National Grant - "Jóvenes Creadores in Photography"

Acquisition prize Reseña Plástica Nuevoleonesa, Salón Fotografía, Casa de la Cultura de Nuevo León, Mexico (2007)

Hey Hot Shot's Summer and winter editions, honorable mention, Jen Bekman Gallery, NY, USA (2007)

Premio Descubrimiento Finalist, PHOTOESPAÑA, Madrid, Spain (2007)

VIII Bienal FEMSA, honorable mention, Monterrey, Mexico (2007)

State Grant for the project Identidad: Nuevo León, FONECA 2005 del CONARTE, Mexico

FotoGuanajuato 2004, Best 10 portfolios, Guanajuato, Mexico

Untitled Lost River #1, from the Suburbia Mexicana Project

Photography; Inkjet Print, 2008

 

These editions are printed with archival pigment inks on a satin Photographic paper. The ink and paper combination have display permanence rating of 150+ years.

Print Size: We never change the aspect ratio or crop the original image. Each image is sized to maximally fill the selected dimension. All of our prints have a minimum border of a 1/4 of an inch to allow for framing.

All our editions are supervised by the artist and are accompanied by a signed and numbered certificate of authenticity. Our prints are made with the greatest attention to quality and a concern for permanence. (Learn more about Print Permanence in the FAQ.)

Alejandro Cartagena

Full Resume

Please see artist's website